Monday, May 18, 2009

The President & Abortion...

Good Morning!

Yesterday, the President of the United States, Barrack Obama, was the invited speaker at the commencement exercises at Notre Dame University. There was quite a bit of contraversy surrounding this choice for this honor at this school. Never-the-less, the President accepted the invitation. There was, as a result, a number of protesters to his being there and receiving an honarary doctorate.

My purpose here is to look at several things the President said and then offer commentary:

The Prseident said:

"Unfortunately, finding that common ground -- recognizing that our fates are tied up, as Dr. King said, in a "single garment of destiny" -- is not easy. Part of the problem, of course, lies in the imperfections of man _ our selfishness, our pride, our stubbornness, our acquisitiveness, our insecurities, our egos; all the cruelties large and small that those of us in the Christian tradition understand to be rooted in original sin. We too often seek advantage over others. We cling to outworn prejudice and fear those who are unfamiliar. Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and with power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice. And so, for all our technology and scientific advances, we see around the globe violence and want and strife that would seem sadly familiar to those in ancient times."

To say that "too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism" and then advocate abortion on demand for any reason seems contradictory. That is essentially what abortion is all about...Most abortions are for the convenience of the one seeking an abortion...yet the President stands with those who would have unfetterred abortion and has even exported this over-seas by sending U.S. Tax-Payer money to support it...

"The soldier and the lawyer may both love this country with equal passion, and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm. The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts. Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son's or daughter's hardships can be relieved."

In the area of stem-cell research, embryonic stem cells have never shown to be an answer in fighting disease whereas, adult stem cells have...

"As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called "The Audacity of Hope." A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an e-mail from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life, but that's not what was preventing him from voting for me. What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my Web site -- an entry that said I would fight "right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman's right to choose." The doctor said that he had assumed I was a reasonable person, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, "I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words." Fair-minded words. After I read the doctor's letter, I wrote back to him and thanked him. I didn't change my position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my Web site. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that -- when we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think like we do or believe what we do -- that's when we discover at least the possibility of common ground. That's when we begin to say, "Maybe we won't agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions. So let's work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let's honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women."

The President speaks of "fair-minded words"...that we can find common ground...there is no common ground...we believe that abortion is murder and the President and those who push for policies like his do not...How can we reduce the number of abortions when you Mr. President advocate making it available under any circumstances? How can we reduce the number of abortions when you Mr. President promise to sign legislation that will over-turn every abortion limitation to include the abhorrent procedure known as Partial-Birth-Abortion? Or when you advocate that a child that survives a botched abortion should be left to die so as not to interfere with a woman's right to choose? He also tells us that "we can agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision"...DUH! Of course this is a heart-wrenching decision! This is so because a woman is contemplating destroying and murdering the growing life of her CHILD within her!

The fact is that the President holds the power...he has the congress firmly within his grasp and the time for payback to all his supporters has come...the problem is that there are human lives in the balance...human lives that will be murdered for the sake of convenience...God help us...

One last statement about the speech. The President claims that maybe these graduates will help us out with the problem of climate change:

"We must decide how to save God's creation from a changing climate that threatens to destroy it."

He says that he is a Christian and I am reminded of God's own word on the subject from Genesis 8:22, "While the earth remains,Seedtime and harvest,Cold and heat,Winter and summer,And day and night Shall not cease."

About Me

I am married to the former Sandra Lee Sharp and on September 1, 2011, we celebrated 27 years! We have five children, Chris, Ashley, Megan, Cameron and Collin.
I have been in "The Ministry" for 13 years, having come from a law enforcemnt career into the ministry. I served as a Police Officer for the Columbus, Georgia Police Department for 9 years followed by 6 years as a Special Agent with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
I am a graduate of Columbus College in 1986 with a B.S. degree in Criminal Justice and I graduated from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in May of 2005 with a Masters of Divinity with Biblical Languages degree. During my seminary days, I served as the Associate Pastor of Youth & Children at Gorman Baptist Church in Durham, North Carolina. Prior to serving as the Senior Pastor at Fairview Baptist Church in Columbus, Georgia, I served as the interim Pastor at Lakewood baptist Church in Phenix City, Alabama.
Currently, I serve as a Bible Teacher at Calvary Christian School in Columbus, Georgia, having resigned from Fairview in January, 2011.